Wealth

Raising community standards

By Jonathan Jackson

The Chinese community is vibrant, supportive of itself and one of the rocks of Australian society, but how difficult is it for new immigrants to succeed in their chosen country when the odds seemed stacked against them? Jonathan Jackson speaks with Ironfish founder Joseph Chou to find out?

"There is an old saying in China that ‘there’s a lot of room at the top, but it is very crowded at the bottom."

Joseph Chou is a dancer, comedian, linguist, violinist, business owner and pillar of the community. He considers himself blessed and is grateful for what he has achieved through the differing lives he has led in China and Australia. His story is not so much one of rags to riches; indeed he was born in a middle class environment and grew up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in a loving and supportive family. His story is one of determination, of goal setting, of action and of giving.

The son of a military father, Joseph’s upbringing was not the clichéd strict Chinese childhood depicted in movies, it was an environment where he was encouraged to pursue his passions without ever having his whims indulged.

"I had a lot of dreams," Joseph says.

"One day I wanted to be a national table tennis player. The next day I wanted to become a soccer player, a singer and a gymnast. My mother never discouraged me from doing anything. At the time my parents were on reasonably higher incomes compared to other families, but she never indulged us (his brothers) either.

"I used to wear one set of clothes. I went to a friend’s house and they had so many toys and all I had was a little rubber ball. In a way I envied them, but looking back my mother taught me that you don’t have to go over the top with anything."

As the Cultural Revolution came into full swing, Joseph had a decision to make: pursue his dreams in the arts or attend university. One brother encouraged Joseph to join the military to avoid going to work in the fields, his other brother encouraged academic pursuits. Reluctantly, as 1977 came and went and university attendance in China was held in higher regard than before, Joseph made the decision to study.

His scores for Beijing City’s unified exam were high – 90%. This gave him the leverage he needed when he went to speak with the principal of the elective school he wished to attend. However, the standard of student was much higher than he was used to and he found himself as a middle of the range student.

Yet his desire was to make his parents proud and he was determined to be head of the class no matter what it took.

"When I went to the elective school I realised I was in the middle, after being at the top. Everyone was a star, which I couldn’t handle. So, I focused on getting up early and studying. Three months later we had another exam and I was number one in my class. What that taught me was that you acclimatise to an environment. That if am willing to work hard, I can adjust my positioning."

It is this lesson that Joseph has taken with him throughout his life and various careers. Hard work and confidence landed him a place at Peking University, a feat no other student in his school had ever achieved. In fact only 4% of graduates went to university at the time, and 20 students were accepted into Peking University, so being accepted appealed to his sense of excellence and drove him to achieve even more.

"I had a natural ability and naivety to believe that I would be one of the 20. I knew I was a clever student, confident and naturally happy, but what helped me was focus. Every time I have a goal it becomes my project and this taught me that focus worked. I ended up with the highest scores in my county, not in all of China, but in that county."

Joseph went on to study English and work in the Chinese government as a diplomat. In spite of his stage presence and love for theatre he was a shy soul reluctant to approach people.

Yet again, however, Joseph’s inert confidence in his abilities and most importantly his ability to acclimatise shone through.

"I remember I would go to functions and only talk with Chinese diplomats. What helped me to change was a counsellor from Poland who looked very fierce. I made the approach and it turned out he was a friendly person which taught me that even though people look different, they are the same."

The ability to see good in people and to approach them as equals held him in good stead when he decided to immigrate to Australia. His upbringing has also played a vital role. When the Chou family moved from China to Australia as permanent residents, the very same qualities that led him to a successful career in China also held him in good stead when he was forced to rebuild his life in this ’wide brown land’.

On arrival the only money the Chou family had went to the purchase of a second rate automobile. Whether this was motivated by Joseph’s love for cars which stems from his childhood in Beijing sitting in the street counting embassy cars, or by some uncanny premonition that he would need a car to be a salesman is unclear, however it left the Chou’s with only $20 to their name and nowhere to live other than by the good graces of a friend’s generosity. So with his cheap car and while sitting at his friend’s kitchen table, he and his wife plotted their future.

"We both decided that we wanted a free life. When I was a diplomat I worked a lot with writers, but I knew Australian writers couldn’t survive, they needed government grants and had to get a job to support themselves. Only the most accomplished writers have the money and resources to write.

Yet getting into sales wasn’t his passion, it was singing, writing, travelling and sales was seen as a means to an end.

"My wife and I said why don’t we find a way to solve the money problem. In China we were never brought up to believe money was good, but I thought if money is an issue most people face, why don’t we get rid of the problem. At the time, new migrants earning $30,000 was considered acceptable, so I set a target to make $100,000 per year.

"My wife said you get a job, any job, so we have something to eat. The only job that I could get that could earn me that type of money was sales, in particular life insurance. I responded to an ad that said, ‘Training supplied, no experience necessary, $2,000 a week’." The one thing Joseph refused to do was let his shyness or lack of experience and no contacts be an excuse for lack of success. While he was looking for a job he was a pizza delivery boy.

"When I was delivering pizzas I was happy because it was something I wanted to do for the time being and it served a purpose. Three months before that I was being called ‘Your Excellency’ and now I was cleaning up for an 18 year old manager. I didn’t feel bitter. I knew this was part of the job."

A sale was just as tough, but he approached it with the same determination.

"I went to a client’s place, my car was leaking and I stood in the rain for three hours I was so keen to make a sale," he states. Then after a couple of years in insurance Joseph was making good money, pulling in a six figure salary and living comfortably. It wasn’t until he had an ethical dilemma with one of the company’s new products that he questioned what he was doing and where he wanted to be.

It was now 1993 and Australia was entering recession. The product Joseph was asked to sell was, by his reckoning, priced too high for the current economic climate.

Back in 1991, Joseph had also bought himself a shelf company and had begun to juggle several money-making pursuits, yet he still felt he was going nowhere.

"I bought a magazine, sold insurance, worked in network marketing, but I was still going nowhere. When the economy stabilised my wife quit her translation job. There is an old saying in China that ‘there’s a lot of room at the top, but it is very crowded at the bottom’. We recognised that there was an untapped niche in commercial interpreting translation and conference interpreting. We became top interpreters and translators for BHP and QANTAS. I even did voiceover for Disney."

Joseph, however, was becoming frustrated. His pursuit of goals was still a driving factor in what was the journey of his life. One of those goals was to increase his income by $100,000 each year. He had stagnated on half a million dollars and the figure hadn’t improved in three years.

A radio ad for a property seminar was the catalyst for the next phase of his life. In 1998 property was booming, it made sense to move into the industry.

"The presenter, William O’Dwyer was someone I’d worked with in insurance. He told the audience he had 20 properties and I thought ‘I only have one’. He came to see me at my home the next day in his brand new Bentley and I was quite impressed. I knew his cash flow would be better than mine and yet we both started on the same level.

"In a way I realised we were two people starting from the same position, taking different paths and getting different results. Some people saw me as doing quite well, but when I compared results he showed me the possibilities that people can become millionaires after starting with nothing."

Joseph became William’s client and by the middle of the year, he had six properties in his portfolio. Property investment was something always in the back of Joseph’s mind, but he never thought he had the time until someone had made it feasible for him.

Realising that property was the most inspired way he could achieve his financial goal, he shut down the translating business and approached William to become a business partner.

Unbeknownst to Joseph, William had just split with his business partner and wasn’t looking for a replacement. It didn’t matter. Joseph made a pact with William to do three things: be his top salesman, be his most positive person, and add the most value to the company.

To do this, Joseph approached the Chinese community. "I realised that the Chinese market was underserviced, so I went to William and told him that I would help him break into this market. I was only ever on commission and didn’t ask for $1, but I believe that if you make the contribution, one day you will be recognised."

The day came two years later when William approached Joseph with a sweetener.

"He said to me if you can achieve 20 sales for three months in a row I will overwrite you. I tripled that result and didn’t have to go out anymore because my team was doing really well. All William had to do was show up to the seminar and talk. He did the seminar and I became his Chinese client as a testimonial, it was very powerful."

The problem was, however, that William’s empire was only ever going to be William’s empire and Joseph wanted to satiate his entrepreneurial desires.

"I was grateful for the opportunity but it was hard to say goodbye. I started the Sydney arm of Ironfish and I made $300 million in the first year for the company."

Ironfish is a joint effort between a valued sales team, Joseph and his wife. He refers to his wife as his motivator and the person that holds everything together.

"The only thing that matters is my wife and kids. I made a decision that she would take on the huge task of looking after the children, but I believe that it is the two of us who make every dollar. This is due to the respect we have held for each other when we were living in China, to the hard times we went through when we immigrated."

Ironfish is more than just a property investment company for the Chinese community. It is the culmination of all Joseph’s hard work, goal setting and lessons in life. It is his vehicle to help and give back to a community that in the past offered him so much and asked for nothing in return. Ultimately, Joseph would like to help young Chinese children to learn entrepreneurial skills. As such he has opened an entrepreneurship programme.

"I look at property with the attitude of how can I add value to that person’s life, how can I help them adapt to Australian life better because nobody had ever talked with them about living a comfortable life.

"Unfortunately, social conditioning doesn’t tell anybody how to get started. Even those with an MBA from Harvard don’t have real world experience. They have a fear of taking risks or keeping up with Joneses."

Joseph believes that genuinely successful people are willing to share. They have a strong desire and clearly defined goals; they know what they want.

It all starts with a target and if you don’t know how to reach that target, you ask someone. Once the target is attained, create a plan of action. Then, as Joseph says, "there is no magic, just total focus and hard work."